14 hours ago, Rybak said:

Catching plenty legal ones as a bycatch when chasing whiting. All have to be put back. Snapper starts early next year but probably with a severe rec limit. Almost not worth while chasing at all - while the Pros quota increases. Bloody idiots here in SA.

10 hours ago, Wert said:

Honestly? Caught more legal snaps including my pb since they were banned than ever before, it turns out that I should have been trying not to catch them all along, especially on lures, look forward to keeping the odd one or two 50cm or so bycatch snapper I catch.

Good to hear its not getting worse.

That crash in the snapper stocks was frightening - I was looking at some graphs of catch rates last night. Something definitely need to be done. Almost looked like an environmental disaster. Like something was wrong with the water

They reckon huge rain events during snapper spawning can kill alot just hatched snapper in PPB.

7 minutes ago, yellow door 1 said:

Ahh I see - thanks mate

its got to something other than Rec pressure. The amount of boats out in Port Phillip bay has to be seen to be believed and they still keep getting huge recruitments of babies 

Apart from Rex Hunt getting rid of the scallop cage dredgers way back in the day - here some updates on what the Vic authorities are doing for Port Phillip

 

Removing nets from Port Phillip Bay

42 minutes ago, Softy said:

No idea we are not allowed to target them until next year.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
 

Ahh I see - thanks mate

its got to something other than Rec pressure. The amount of boats out in Port Phillip bay has to be seen to be believed and they still keep getting huge recruitments of babies 

Just saw this on the Vic Fisheries face book page.

 

The results are in and it’s fantastic news! Our scientists have recorded a bumper spawning of baby snapper in Port Phillip. It’s the third best result since monitoring began nearly 30 years ago.

Combined with record abundance of baby snapper back in 2018, these two strong year classes will see terrific snapper fishing for the next decade!

Strong spawning of our iconic Port Phillip snapper is great news for recreational fishers and seafood consumers, who can look forward to fresh, local snapper from the 8 remaining commercial line fishers following the end of netting in the bay on 1 April 2022.

Scientists undertake the surveys of baby snapper in March every year and know to expect variation in spawning success depending on environmental conditions.

The surveys measure the abundance of newborn snapper between 3 and 10 cm that have survived from the previous spring-summer spawning.

Port Phillip is the most important spawning area for snapper in central and western Victoria and the record 2018 year class will begin to join the adult spawning migration from around 2023/24 onwards.

In the meantime, recreational fishers can enjoy great fishing for pinky snapper as most of the 2018 year class are now larger than the minimum size of 28cm and widely distributed.

#gofishingvictoria #snapper #science #portphillipbay

2 hours ago, Softy said:

Nice haul! 

Yeah we drove over a school of monster gars with whiting underneath, 30m from the ramp. I was heavily hinting that I though we should drop anchor and burley.

But it wasnt my boat and they were heading out to a mark they had done well on.

After 3 drops of the anchor, following local internet guru tips and only wrasse to show for it - I was bighting my tongue. But then the locals kicked it old school and went searching for prominent weed beds with long patches of sand leading up to them.

With a fair bit of polaroiding - a couple of half hearted - "Should we drop here's" they finally found a weed edge neither of them could argue about. And then it was on - good times

Giving the scaler bag a run
 

……

Now with line gripper

3 hours ago, Soobz said:

Perhaps 316 MIG welding wire, it's pretty strong though so a bit hard to bend.

Yeah Im finding I'm willing to sacrifice thinness for stuff thats easy to bend - the .90 gal wire has the strength I need and is fat enough to not cut my leaders.

I gave the wire harness a go yesterday - and it has its draw backs - I suspect it might hurt hook up ratios and its harder to clear the weed from the twisted metal

Nah -no good -  the double loop didn’t do much

got to 5.2 kg or around 11.5lb, before cutting the 30lb mono. 
 

The wire is too thin even when you double it

Ahh Im glad I took those close ups - I think I tested the single loop version on the smaller hook - not the double loop on the bigger hook - the double loop may spread the load a little better  - Ill test that

This photo shows the difference a bit better

2 hours ago, dmck said:

what is/was the dia of the wire?

Ive just got some SS 'welding filler" to try, approx 1.2mm diam- 

Its pretty hard/stiff and may be too difficult to shape.. but I'll have a go and report.

Not sure of 80lb brown stainless's diametre but its super thin.

Its also pretty hard to work with compared to Galvanised fencing wire. The gal wire bends when you want it to and stays there, but the stainless is always fighting to get back to where it was.

I just went out and bought some .90mm gal wire as I was finding the 1.25mm gal wire too chunky.

Heres the silver .90 gal wire next to the brown 80lb stainless

I tested the 30lb mono with the .90mm gal wire and it got to 22lb of pull, so I stopped pulling.

The thinness of the Stainless wire I had, was most likely what was cutting the 30lb mono line

26 minutes ago, dmck said:

How/why? is there some deformity (ridge?) on the wire that makes a pressure point?

I tested it 3 times and it kept cutting - I think the thin wire acts like a knife point on the mono - like those wire cheese cutters

There was also some stretching of the twists and elongation of the rig - so maybe that had something to do with it.

No holes fully closed in but they did get smaller before the mono snapped

There is a chance I put some scuff marks on the wire but I dont think so - I was was using smooth round nose pliers to form the loops

I was using 30lb berkley trilene mono which isnt know for its abrasion resistance - but it should have held way longer than 8lb - 10lb

26 minutes ago, dmck said:

Rusting problem with mine was I kept them in an ice-cream tub (no lid) and they got salt water (spray etc) in the tub... and I didnt empty..

Now the "new ones" are in sealed food containers and cant get wet.

Yeah I seal up all my rigs etc in air tight containers these days - learnt that the hard way aswell

2 hours ago, yellow door 1 said:

 80lb brown stainless makes a more subdued package and should hold on the bigger hook

Big fail on the 80lb wire - it cuts through 30lb mono at 4kg of pressure

1 hour ago, dmck said:

I use womens hair clips to push through the hole.  Have to trim to length first (cut of knobs from ends) then fit and tap sinker with hammer.  Cheap from supermarkets.

THey do rust so keep them dry - when not in use.

Yeah Nice one the Galvanised fencing wire Ive used will rust out eventually too - but I reckon I'll lose the sinker before that happens

 80lb brown stainless makes a more subdued package and should hold on the bigger hook

Just when you thought you were so bored of diy drop shotting and you couldnt bare it any more - theres more

Got to pick up some finer wire and make them more compact - but Im liking where this is heading

3 hours ago, Yorky said:

They once were a commercial item, don’t know if their still available 

yeah that boxy design would fit more ball sinkers than mine does - nice

ok so thats the last batch for the foreseeable future - just some big boys with swivels - 18.1 g is as big as they got

2 hours ago, Softy said:

Looks like you have had a busy day! Could be onto something with that speed clam idea....

Yeah I reckon the clamp has potential

Now also available with eyes

All new to the “expendables” range

Speed clamps. For quickly changing to a variety of different weights